Brother Jeff Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Bless the Lard! I obeyed the magical promptings of the Holy Spook in my life and joined American Atheists! I've wanted to do it for quite a while, and I finally decided to "just do it" for Kryasst. Glory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Congratulations, Brother Jeff! If I remember correctly, their site is one of the really good ones I've come across. It's not very compatible with my low vision problems so I don't spend much time there. But the content--the parts of it that I can see--is great. I hope you feel richly rewarded for your participation. This is off-topic. May I ask why you always end your posts with "Glory"? I understand you were Pentecostal. Maybe this is your way of "getting back" at them? Just curious here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brother Jeff Posted July 20, 2007 Author Share Posted July 20, 2007 Congratulations, Brother Jeff! If I remember correctly, their site is one of the really good ones I've come across. It's not very compatible with my low vision problems so I don't spend much time there. But the content--the parts of it that I can see--is great. I hope you feel richly rewarded for your participation. This is off-topic. May I ask why you always end your posts with "Glory"? I understand you were Pentecostal. Maybe this is your way of "getting back" at them? Just curious here. Thanks! I wish I could say that it's a Brother Jeff Original, but the truth is that I picked up that phrase from Landover Baptist a long time ago and started using it because I loved it. Yeah, I suppose it does let off steam about my Christian years, but it's also just a great expression that I know blesses the Lard every time I use it! Glory! See, did you look up at the sky just now? Kryasst got happy the moment I shouted that! Glory! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HuaiDan Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 You know the reason the Union won the Civil War was because of the Battle Hymn of the Republic (one of the greatest song titles of all times, btw) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Here's some history on Battle Hymn of the Republic. If you've got the technology you can also hear it playing. I have a tape with part of it. When I did a class presentation on evangelicals, I played it. I also showed a video clip from Randall Balmer's "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" where Josh McDowell spoke to young people about who all they sleep with when they sleep with someone outside marriage--he says they are sleeping with everyone that person has ever slept with. Totally ridiculous. Somehow, people really liked that presentation. I think they got the essence of evangelical/fundamentalist Christianity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ro-bear Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 "Battle Hymn of the Republic" has lyrics that can be sung to the Oscar Mayer bologna song. You know, the one that goes "My bologna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R..." Try it! If you don't know that one, try singing it to "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" (Beverly Hillbillies theme song). "Amazing Grace" works the same way. Nothing draws stares like belting out a hymn to the tune of a silly ballad. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vigile Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 I used to turn my stereo up to 10 and blast Stryper's version of Battle Hymn. It gave me goosebumps. I was such a geek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 I wish I could say that it's a Brother Jeff Original, but the truth is that I picked up that phrase from Landover Baptist a long time ago and started using it because I loved it. Thanks for the information. Yeah, I suppose it does let off steam about my Christian years, but it's also just a great expression that I know blesses the Lard every time I use it! Glory! See, did you look up at the sky just now? Kryasst got happy the moment I shouted that! Glory! Ummm, no. Was I supposed to? Last night when I read it, it was dark outside. And now this time when I read it again, the blind was down to keep out the heat. Oh! I hear a sparrow chirping. Maybe that is Jesus being happy. Yes, I think so. G-l-o....I wasn't raised this way; I don't want to say it. Mostly life is pretty good without me saying it. About the Lard Crisco, I don't have any. All I have is Unico Vegetable Oil. Will that work, too? On second thought..........what if my serious church-going landlady hears me yelling "Halleluja Unico! God bless Unico Oil"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R. S. Martin Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 "Battle Hymn of the Republic" has lyrics that can be sung to the Oscar Mayer bologna song. You know, the one that goes "My bologna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R..." Try it! If you don't know that one, try singing it to "The Ballad of Jed Clampett" (Beverly Hillbillies theme song). "Amazing Grace" works the same way. Nothing draws stares like belting out a hymn to the tune of a silly ballad. Battle Hymn of the Republic was written to be sung to John Brown's Body; more on him below. Here's the Cyber Hymnal entry of its history: Words: bio("Julia W. Howe","h/o/w/howe_jw") Julia W. Howe, 1861, alt. This hymn was born during the American civil war, when Howe visited a Union Army camp on the Potomac River near Washington, D. C. She heard the soldiers singing the song "John Brown's Body," and was taken with the strong marching beat. She wrote the words the next day: I awoke in the grey of the morning, and as I lay waiting for dawn, the long lines of the desired poem began to entwine themselves in my mind, and I said to myself, "I must get up and write these verses, lest I fall asleep and forget them!" So I sprang out of bed and in the dimness found an old stump of a pen, which I remembered using the day before. I scrawled the verses almost without looking at the paper. The hymn appeared in the Atlantic Monthly in 1862. It was sung at the funerals of British statesman Winston Churchill, American senator Robert Kennedy, and American presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. Music: John Brown's Body, possibly by John William Steffe lmn("j/o/John%20Browns%20Body") (MIDI, score). John Brown was an American abolitionist who led a short lived insurrection to free the slaves. END OF QUOTE Here's a page with the words of these two songs along with a bit of history around the situation. And here on Famous Trials you can see The Trial of John Brown. Maybe I'm the only person interested in this stuff. I'm just trying to get a feeling for the time and place so I can better understand what prompted the fundamentalist movement. The first fundy theology was written right after the American Civil War. Battle Hymn of the Republic was written for/during that war. And the soldiers were singing John Brown's Body at the war. Not to mention that it's a really rousing tune, easy to march to....it's the kind of music that makes you want to march if you're not already doing it. Okay, here I found music for John Brown's Body. It's male and female voices. Also several versions of the words...finally I figured out which words they are singing. Seems to be a hodge-podge of versions thrown together as follows: John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, John Brown's body lies a-mouldering in the grave, But his soul goes marching on. Chorus: Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! Glory, Glory, Hallelujah! His soul goes marching on. He captured Harpers Ferry with his nineteen men so few, And he frightened "Old Virginny" till she trembled through and through, They hung him for a traitor, themselves a traitor crew, But his soul goes marching on. John Brown died that the slaves might be free. John Brown died that the slaves might be free. John Brown died that the slaves might be free. But his soul goes marching on. It's soaked with religious blood. I wish there were secular songs that are just as good music as these old hymns. If I remember correctly, then someone said the one thing evangelicals excelled at was music. They gave the world music that is unsurpassed by any other. And I grew up on the best of this. Acapella evangelical music was one pleasure permitted in my community. And we were good at it! It's the one thing I miss most from my past--just not quite enough to make me go back. With time I might find enough free music on the internet to make up for it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Harley Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 Here's some history on Battle Hymn of the Republic. If you've got the technology you can also hear it playing. I have a tape with part of it. When I did a class presentation on evangelicals, I played it. I also showed a video clip from Randall Balmer's "Mine Eyes Have Seen the Glory" where Josh McDowell spoke to young people about who all they sleep with when they sleep with someone outside marriage--he says they are sleeping with everyone that person has ever slept with. Totally ridiculous. Somehow, people really liked that presentation. I think they got the essence of evangelical/fundamentalist Christianity. Actually, from a bacterial and microbal POV, he has a point... They can track HIV infections by the DNA of the virus you have So, you shag the wrong person and you're virally linked to half the planet... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grandpa Harley Posted July 20, 2007 Share Posted July 20, 2007 and from an English standpoint Jerusalem has the same effect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smellincoffee Posted July 21, 2007 Share Posted July 21, 2007 and from an English standpoint Jerusalem has the same effect. "Jerusalem" is a great song, even if the content is questionable. I found a version of it that might be more appealing, but it doesn't make as much sense. AND DID THAT TRUTH IN ANCIENT TIME And did that truth in ancient time, walk upon lands of mountains green? And was the voice of reasoned thought, on our land's pleasant pastures seen? And did the vision grand and high, shine forth upon our clouded hills? And was justice builded here, among these dark and fearful mills? Discard that bow of burning gold! Forsake those arrows of desire! Throw down that spear! O clouds, unfold! Subdue those chariots of fire! I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my pen sleep in my hand, Till we have built a justice clear, in these our green and precious lands. I found it from the HumanLight website; they link to both the Anthology of Humanist Songs and the Humanist Hymnal. The Hymnal has a large selection; at least two dozen songs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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